Snape's Soul
by paintingtherainbowblack
Summary: This is a tale of Snape and Lily, how they got to be together, how they part, and what was left when she went away. Basically, it's The Prince's Tale, extended version.
1. Chapter 1: First Scent

**Ok, this is the first chapter is what I hope to be a many-chaptered fic. I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters.  
**

He clearly remembered the first time he had seen her eyes; the first time he had seen her

He clearly remembered the first time he had seen her eyes; the first time he had seen her. He had been walking around the park, their park. He was alone; the sun was shining through the accumulating grey clouds as though daring them to try to make him move. He was zoning, thinking of nothing, trying to keep his mind off things, when the wind blew a sudden smell in his direction. His nostrils flared and his brain came to life, for that scent was like nothing he had ever smelled before. It was a mix of tree bark, honeysuckle, and something… warm. Perhaps if he had not been too busy trying to take in as much of that scent as he could, he might have wondered how something could possibly _smell_ warm.

Fixated as he was on that beautiful scent, he was a secretive boy and always on guard for intruders into his world. He knew that being seen, being known, led to being asked question- questions he was not ready to answer. That was why, when he heard footsteps crackling along the path that led to the park, he drew his head away from the beautiful smell and darted behind a bush.

Severus Snape was not a stupid boy, though he was young. As two girls about his age emerged into his field of vision and that smell became even stronger, he knew that one of them brought it. Peering between the leaves of his bush, he saw that one of the girls was about his age with red hair in a pixie cut that fell over her eyes. Her lips were plump, he skin fair, he body delicate. The other girl seemed a couple years older. She was rather scrawny, had shoulder length, blonde hair and liquid blue eyes. She was not ugly, no, but rather unremarkable and something about her face- her chin, perhaps?- made him Severus think of the word _sharp._

"Tuney," said the younger, prettier girl, "Tuney, want to play on the see-saw?"

"Oh, Lily, play on your own! I'm too grown for that nonsense!" replied the other girl, though she looked longingly toward the toy.

"Oh, Tuney, please? Please?"

Severus looked away. Delightful as that smell was, even for it, he could not be interested in strangers' doings. _Muggle_ strangers at that! He looked around for a way to escape the park noiselessly, but found that he was completely surrounded by dry leaves. _Fuck fall,_ he thought to himself, trying out an angry-sounding work he had heard his father use just that day. He sighed. If he had really wanted to, he could have trodden carefully through the leaves, making little sound and therefore attracting little confrontation. But it didn't seem worth it and he didn't really want to go home anyway. If his father was still in a mood, Severus would much rather sit behind a bush, zoning. Another sigh escaped his lips as he prepared to make himself comfortable on the seat of dried leaves. It was then that he heard the scream.

Looking back through the leaves, Severus saw that Lily had persuaded her sister to accompany her on the see-saw. Tuney- _must be short for something, _though Snape- had her back to him with her seat on the ground. Lily was at the top, facing him, and shaking. From the babble he could overhear, it seemed that at one moment, Lily had been on the bottom and Tuney on the top and then, quite suddenly, Tuney was smacking her backside into the ground.

"I… I don't know what's going on! Petunia, I'm sorry. I'm scared. But… it's nice. I feel as if I'm all light, like a feather. But oh, Tuney! You're hurt and I don't know how to get down!"

At once, Severus realized what was happening. This little girl with the intoxicating scent- for he was sure that it was her who smelled so very nice- was no _Muggle!_ She was a witch! One just discovering her powers, apparently. He almost laughed at the spectacle, but for some reason, at that moment, Lily lifted her face and her eyes found his. Instead of laughing, he gasped. They were the most beautiful things he had ever seen- shining and brave and defiant and nice- all rolled into one. Even full of fear, they sparkled and this, combined with that mystique color, made Severus feel as if he had just lain eyes on the most precious of emeralds.

He blushed and ducked before she could register who- or _what_- she had seen. Breathing deeply, Severus Snape knew that his life had changed. He may not have found real emeralds, but from now on, he was certainly rich.


	2. Chapter 2: First Encounter

Don't be ridiculous

_Don't be ridiculous. Don't expect anything. _The words were among many like them that Severus told himself over and over again. _She won't believe you. You're just doing this for the smell. She's a __**mudblood.**_The last word echoed through his head. He had heard his mother use that word. It meant a witch or wizard of muggle parenting. Severus's mother couldn't stand muggles. That was why she hated her husband so much. She loved him too. Oh yes. When he was out at a bar, she stayed up all night. Severus heard her crying, but as soon as his father walked in, the crumpled tissues were thrown in the trash and the former Prince became a Queen of ice. Of course Daddy Dearest wasn't much better. He hated the Wizarding community almost as much as his wife hated the muggle one. But he stayed. And whenever she went out for a Girls' Night, he stayed at home, getting more drunk than he ever did at the bars.

But today, Severus wasn't thinking about that. He _wouldn't _think about it. Today, he had a mission. He was going to get close to that little girl, Lily, and he was going to tell her she was a witch. He would tell her and… and nothing. She probably wouldn't believe him, anyway. She was too practical. No, she was dreamy. No, she was… she was a mudblood who Severus would not associate himself with. No, he would tell her so that she could know (after all, who wanted to be a muggle?) and so he could smell her up close and then he wouldn't worry himself about her ever again. Rich indeed! The girl with the emerald eyes was nothing to him. She was pretty and his age, but he had no need for her. His mother had taught him to shun muggles and that seemed to be the only way he didn't displease her. He didn't have any friends, wizarding or otherwise, but his mother didn't care about the particulars. Only that he didn't know muggles.

Lost in thoughts, Severus tiptoed towards the park. He sniffed and sighed. Nothing was calling to his nostrils but the usual scent of wind and sun and earth. But it didn't matter. Every day, without fail, Lily and Tuney went to that park and almost every time they did, Lily would upset Tuney with some display of the magic that she could not control. That would be the perfect time for Severus to step in, telling Lily she was a witch who would, in time, meet other witches and fall in love with a wizard. It was the same story that Severus's mother had often told him, but with a reversal in genders. Severus had never questioned her ideas, never thought them hypocritical. He knew that he didn't want to end up as miserable as his mother and she _had_ married a muggle after all. But **no**! He wouldn't think about it. Where was he? Oh yes. After he told Lily what she was, he would run. He would get in, do the deed he knew should and would be done, he's smell that sweet perfume, and then he'd run. She'd never see him again and he wouldn't see her until Hogwarts and then only from afar. He'd be in all advanced classes of course, and she… well, she was a mudblood. No need to say where she would be.

That's when the smell hit him. He turned around, preparing to duck behind a bush and wait, but what he saw made him stop. Lily was making her way to the swings on her own. Tuney was not there. Lily's nose was almost as red as her short hair and the emeralds of her eyes were so liquidy it was as though they had melted. She curled her hand around the swing's chain and Severus watched as she began to sob. Before he could stop himself, we walked over to her and said quietly, "What's wrong?"

Lily looked up. This close, her smell made him delightfully dizzy and he almost didn't hear her say, "Oh, it's Petunia!"

She stopped and stared at him with huge eyes, and it occurred to Severus that she may be awaiting a response. "Petunia? That must be your sister."

"Yes!" she wailed, not questioning how Severus knew this information, "Yes! Daddy said that I could use my… my, stuff to help the garden and only that. And so far, I have… or I've been trying to. But Tuney got so mad when she heard about it! It was awful. She hates me. But I haven't done anything to her? How, how could my sister ate me?"

She looked quizzically at Severus as though expecting him to have the answer. But as he looked at her beautiful eyes and beautiful hair and beautiful body and smelled her beautiful smell and heard her beautiful voice, he too was wondering the same question.

And with that, he turned and, for the only time in their long relationship, he left her.


End file.
